Chapter 39

Day 5

The same night

 

 

 

While the Negroes were having a meeting, infuriated Whites were having a meeting of their own at Grace Holiness Church of God in Christ, all Bible-believing Christians. They had all read or heard about the article in the Sentinel, which resurrected their sense of injustice because not one Negro had been arrested after the riot. The thing that really riled them up was the fact that the Wise name had been interjected again, just as it was before the riot. They believed it was Johnnie’s fault the moment word got out that she was there when the fabled Beauregard family tragically met disaster.

After singing hymns and loudly praising God, the church members sat in their pews as their minister stepped up to the lectern. He raised his closed Bible above his head and said, “The Lord our God told the children of Israel not to intermarry with heathen nations because if they did, they would turn their hearts away from him. He told them to go in and possess the land; to kill them all; man, woman, child, and beast! And that’s what we have to do too. The Bible says that’s how you put evil away from among you!”

Applause.

One of the members stood up and said, “I say we go over there right now, preacher. I say we give ’em what we owe ’em—a prolonged lashing.”

“That’s what they deserve, all right,” the minister said. “But this time we’re going to be smart. We’re not going to go into their town acting like undisciplined looters like we did the last time. No! We’re going to organize this time, plan. We’re going to keep this thing quiet. We’re going to wait until they least expect it, and then we will swoop down on them like a hawk does its prey and crush them like the vermin they are.” Applause. “When they try the pickaninny, that Johnnie Wise girl, that’s when we’ll make our move. All the Negroes will likely attend the trial. The rest’ll probably be at work in their shops on Main Street. When they come back to their homes, there’ll only be ashes left. This time we won’t bother with the poor niggers.

“This time we will destroy the strong, and in so doing, we’ll automatically destroy the weak. By destroying their wealth, we take away their ability to rebuild. This time we start in Ashland Estates, where rich white men have their black nigger whores and black bastard children right out in the open for all to see. God is not pleased with that! We won’t kill them, though. We will humble them for the next fifty years or more, which is better than killing them. They’ll have to live with the humiliation of being destroyed. Then they’ll turn on each other and prove to themselves that they are nothing more than animals that need to be caged. That’s what animals do, kill and maim each other. And we’ll watch and laugh at their foolishness.” Thunderous applause.

Someone shouted, “I’m with you, Reverend!”

“Yeah, me too!” another shouted.

And so said they all—even the women and children.